Armenia was the guarantor of Artsakh’s security, and the opinion of third countries could not be decisive, said Artur Khachatryan, an MP from the Hayastan faction, commenting on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s statement regarding the recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan.
Pashinyan made the remarks during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Khachatryan added that Armenians lived in Artsakh, and the issue concerned the security of the Armenian population, according to Pastinfo.
“The Republic of Armenia was the guarantor of the security of the Republic of Artsakh. Armenians lived in Artsakh, and the issue concerned their safety. Russians, Chinese, or Aleuts did not live there for third countries’ opinions to be decisive. It was the Republic of Armenia that negotiated the status of Artsakh, and while third countries could have their views, the primary voice should have been that of the Republic of Artsakh, not any third country.
If we had followed that logic, the Artsakh movement would not have begun in 1988, since the Soviet Union was also against changing the borders of union republics at that time. Nikol Pashinyan, true to his nature, is trying to shift responsibility onto others,” he said.
During the talks in Moscow, Pashinyan addressed the Karabakh issue and Armenia’s position, stating that Armenia recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan only after Russia’s top leadership publicly expressed such a position twice.
He emphasized that he has already clearly stated in Armenia that there is no need to continue the Karabakh movement, as peace has been established between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and both countries have recognized each other’s territorial integrity, political independence, and sovereignty based on the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration.
Pashinyan said: “Yes, we recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, but we did so only after the top leadership of the Russian Federation publicly stated this twice, and you remember that we have discussed this many times.”
